Some who are reading this right now know exactly what this essay is about. And I know exactly who you are. My name is Jakob V, and I am privileged enough to be a part of the class of 2018 at Foothill Technology High School! Welcome to the New Age, Sons and Daughters of Skyrim!
Truthfully, I have not experienced a large variety of things in my life (assuming others’ lives are more fascinating), partly because I haven’t really gone anywhere or done anything of particular interest. I’ve lived on the same godforsaken rock and known the same people for 14 years now, so, as you can imagine, it’s difficult to describe the world I come from when nothing much ever changes. However, thanks to one brilliant institution (hardly), the task just got much much easier!
Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School. OLA. Institution? That’s a terrible joke. Sam wrote a pretty amazing description of the place, but for some reason I feel the need to elaborate. Anyway, OLA. Home to prissy catholic students, outdated tech, unfair teachers and even more unfair rules which are over-enforced by teachers. I love it when people complain about their teachers being old, mean, unfair, strict, or unable to function whatsoever. They have no idea. Sure, preschool, kindergarten, elementary school, they aren’t too bad. Besides being jumbled disorganized messes. But middle school? Unfair to the point where raising your hand to ask to use the restroom at a time designated for using the restroom gets you points off. Some teachers are unable to even control students, and most aren’t even equipped with the most basic knowledge of what they teach. Religion class is a major part of the school day (Bible Tuesday!!). Teachers speak of Christ’s love and fairness and want of equality in the world, and then proceed to negate those teachings by forcing opinions, denying you a voice, unfairly restricting you, being biased to the girls (not much equality there) and essentially doing the opposite of what they just taught. And can anyone guess what happens when you mix Catholic Private School with a bad Spanish class? En el nombre del padre, del hijo, del espíritu santo, amen, Jesus. I think everyone gets the picture.
So, did spending just about 8 years, or one-thousand three-hundred and fifty five days of my life (of course I’ve done the math!) trapped learning the same thing over and over again, each time from different old ladies, in the same damn hellhole give shape to the person I am now? Oh, yes. I remember walking into the second grade classroom of OLA or the first time. I remember my experiences in third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade more vividly than any most of my memories. I can even recall the different times I walked down that central corridor. In fourth grade, I walked down the hallway and I thought, “Gee, it’s gonna be so long before I get into eighth grade.” I must have walked there hundreds of times. And then I can remember walking down the same corridor in eighth grade and thinking, “Gee, I remember when I thought about how long it was gonna be from fourth grade to eighth grade years ago. Now I’m here.” And then it was done. It was over. I had graduated from Our Lady of the Assumption. I was accepted into Foothill Technology, a real school, and I suppose an actual institution where teachers gave more than two craps about your opinion. (The best teachers I have ever had, but then again, OLA set the bar pretty damn low.) Many of my fellow graduates went their separate ways to other high schools, but thankfully all of my great friends came with me to Foothill. I think one of the largest influences OLA enforced upon me was not the content taught or the teachers who taught it, but the brotherhood I formed with my old classmates against our instructors. Whatever happened, we all went through it together. (That sounds way too cheesy, but it’s the truth.) My friends are not just bonded by our similarities in our personalities or in what we like or do, but what we have experienced as well. Like Sam and I, for example. We share a lot of knowledge about each other's pasts, and therefore understand what the other is or could experience in the present, and both of us endured Mrs. Krakowski’s citizenship tests (that is a true achievement!), not to mention the fact that we have more collective IQ than our entire biology class combined. Our friendship is just one example of the many friendships and acquaintances I had and still have, and of all the impacts and influences I have sustained from my time at OLA, in my professional opinion, it is the most important. Obviously besides the education I received.
And now I’m at Foothill, typing about things that happened over the course of the past eight years. The thing is, OLA may be in the past, but it’s effects still remain. Now it is Foothill’s turn to influence me. And I walk around and it is so much different. So much better. There is a great campus environment, the feel of the air is so much lighter, there is real technology available. You can ask questions and get answers instead of dirty looks, annoying commands. Teachers actually want to be there. There is tangible opportunity at Foothill for so many things. And Jesus H. W. Christ knows that no matter what problems I might have at home or in my life, I will take each opportunity I get to better myself in the best ways. I have a long road ahead of me. I am sure that some time in the future, I’ll be writing an essay like this one, reflecting on how high school at Foothill Tech gave shape to my world. And I’ll think to myself, “Gee, I remember how I thought about how long it was gonna be from ninth grade to twelfth grade years ago. Now I’m here, and I remember all of it.” Yes you do, Future Jakob. Yes you do.
Truthfully, I have not experienced a large variety of things in my life (assuming others’ lives are more fascinating), partly because I haven’t really gone anywhere or done anything of particular interest. I’ve lived on the same godforsaken rock and known the same people for 14 years now, so, as you can imagine, it’s difficult to describe the world I come from when nothing much ever changes. However, thanks to one brilliant institution (hardly), the task just got much much easier!
Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School. OLA. Institution? That’s a terrible joke. Sam wrote a pretty amazing description of the place, but for some reason I feel the need to elaborate. Anyway, OLA. Home to prissy catholic students, outdated tech, unfair teachers and even more unfair rules which are over-enforced by teachers. I love it when people complain about their teachers being old, mean, unfair, strict, or unable to function whatsoever. They have no idea. Sure, preschool, kindergarten, elementary school, they aren’t too bad. Besides being jumbled disorganized messes. But middle school? Unfair to the point where raising your hand to ask to use the restroom at a time designated for using the restroom gets you points off. Some teachers are unable to even control students, and most aren’t even equipped with the most basic knowledge of what they teach. Religion class is a major part of the school day (Bible Tuesday!!). Teachers speak of Christ’s love and fairness and want of equality in the world, and then proceed to negate those teachings by forcing opinions, denying you a voice, unfairly restricting you, being biased to the girls (not much equality there) and essentially doing the opposite of what they just taught. And can anyone guess what happens when you mix Catholic Private School with a bad Spanish class? En el nombre del padre, del hijo, del espíritu santo, amen, Jesus. I think everyone gets the picture.
So, did spending just about 8 years, or one-thousand three-hundred and fifty five days of my life (of course I’ve done the math!) trapped learning the same thing over and over again, each time from different old ladies, in the same damn hellhole give shape to the person I am now? Oh, yes. I remember walking into the second grade classroom of OLA or the first time. I remember my experiences in third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade more vividly than any most of my memories. I can even recall the different times I walked down that central corridor. In fourth grade, I walked down the hallway and I thought, “Gee, it’s gonna be so long before I get into eighth grade.” I must have walked there hundreds of times. And then I can remember walking down the same corridor in eighth grade and thinking, “Gee, I remember when I thought about how long it was gonna be from fourth grade to eighth grade years ago. Now I’m here.” And then it was done. It was over. I had graduated from Our Lady of the Assumption. I was accepted into Foothill Technology, a real school, and I suppose an actual institution where teachers gave more than two craps about your opinion. (The best teachers I have ever had, but then again, OLA set the bar pretty damn low.) Many of my fellow graduates went their separate ways to other high schools, but thankfully all of my great friends came with me to Foothill. I think one of the largest influences OLA enforced upon me was not the content taught or the teachers who taught it, but the brotherhood I formed with my old classmates against our instructors. Whatever happened, we all went through it together. (That sounds way too cheesy, but it’s the truth.) My friends are not just bonded by our similarities in our personalities or in what we like or do, but what we have experienced as well. Like Sam and I, for example. We share a lot of knowledge about each other's pasts, and therefore understand what the other is or could experience in the present, and both of us endured Mrs. Krakowski’s citizenship tests (that is a true achievement!), not to mention the fact that we have more collective IQ than our entire biology class combined. Our friendship is just one example of the many friendships and acquaintances I had and still have, and of all the impacts and influences I have sustained from my time at OLA, in my professional opinion, it is the most important. Obviously besides the education I received.
And now I’m at Foothill, typing about things that happened over the course of the past eight years. The thing is, OLA may be in the past, but it’s effects still remain. Now it is Foothill’s turn to influence me. And I walk around and it is so much different. So much better. There is a great campus environment, the feel of the air is so much lighter, there is real technology available. You can ask questions and get answers instead of dirty looks, annoying commands. Teachers actually want to be there. There is tangible opportunity at Foothill for so many things. And Jesus H. W. Christ knows that no matter what problems I might have at home or in my life, I will take each opportunity I get to better myself in the best ways. I have a long road ahead of me. I am sure that some time in the future, I’ll be writing an essay like this one, reflecting on how high school at Foothill Tech gave shape to my world. And I’ll think to myself, “Gee, I remember how I thought about how long it was gonna be from ninth grade to twelfth grade years ago. Now I’m here, and I remember all of it.”
Yes you do, Future Jakob.
Yes you do.